Storage battery



Sept. 12, 1933. H. H. HENRY STORAGE BATTERY Filed March 13, 1931 ATORNEY Patented Sept. 12, 1933Y e 1,926,771" A STORAGE BATTERY Harry H.Henry, Oklahoma City, Okla., assignor toMonark'Battery Company,

a corporation of Delaware Inc.',"Chicago, Ill.,

Y Applicuo'n Marsh i3, V193i. Y.smal No. 522,358 101mm. (or 13e- 147) Myinvention relates tostoragerbatteries, and.'l

more particularly to grid separators storage batteries. K The objectsoi' my. invention are to provide a 5 device'ofv thisclass which isnovel, practical and for use in of utility; which will positivelyprevent an interv nal shortcircuit ina battery between the lowerportions or the plates, usually .caused bythe accumulation in the bottomof the battery boxv of disintegrated particles loosenedrrom the bodiesof the plates; which` may be used as an adjunct to other separatorsbetween the grids or plates or abattery; which will provide additionalinsula-` tion between such grids; which will be slotted to 15- permit aready access of the liquid within the battery to the usual gridsland tothefporous sepa-V. rators; which will resist, to an unusual degree,

injury due to the 'expansion ofthe usual grids and separators caused byovercharging the battery; which will cause onlyan inconsiderable amountof internal resistance in the battery; which will lessen the cost of theusual grid separators; which` will be cheap in manufacture; which willlengthen' the life of the battery; which willbe durable; whichV will beeasily applied; andY which willV be eicient in accomplishing all whichit is intended. f Y Y.

It is usual'in the ,construction vof storage bat-.- teries to lprovidebetween the metal plates or the like. In order 4that a proper degree ofseparation may be had without thickening the separators to an extentwhich'would prevent the ready passage o1" the electrolyte therethrough,these thin separators are provided with vertical ribs.

Batteries are frequently overcharged and when* so vovercharged theybecome overheated. The excessive heat expands the grids-to an extentwhich sometimes causes them'to so tightly squeeze through, thus allowingthe contact of a positive with a negative plate, and so shorting outthat particular cell. r p

In an eiort to prevent this contact, some manufacturers have hadrecourse to rubber sepa# rators placed between the Ausual porous sepa-1the purposes for.

grids of same, separators or" thin porous wood or the wooden separatorsthat the latter are cutA monly accumulates in the botto-m 'ofA abatterybox, l

except by thev provision of upstanding ribs or other supports in' the`bottoms of battery boxes to support the cells on the bottom of the box,for the purpose of preventing their contact with accumulated conductivesediment. When these supports are used lit is necessari/'that the boxbemade somewhat deeper thanthecells, which results in' aconsderableincrease. in the cost of manufacturing the box. f

My device is designed to not* only protect the plates from eventualcontact with veach other due to expansion, but also to protect them`from contact with accumulated conductive sediment.

With these and other objectsin viewas` will more fully appear, myinvention consists in the construction, novel'features, and combinationrof partshereinater more fully described, pointed out inthe claim heretoappended, andillustrated` in the accompanying onesheet drawing, ofwhich:` Y

' Figurel" is a perspective' view, partially in section, .of onecellof abattery arranged in `conformity with the. invention:

Fig. 2 is-a fragmentary side elevational'viewr of my separator; and,

Fig." 3Y is" a fragmentary viewzjof ai battery box housing a cellequipped with the separator. l

'Like characters of'"reference-'designate like `parts 'in allrthe gures.5

It is .understood that various changes in the form, proportion, size,shape, weight and other details of construction,within the scope of myinvention may be resorted to without departing from the spirit or'broadprinciple of my invention andwithout sacrificing any of the advantagesthereof; and it is also understood that the drawing is tofbe interpretedas being illustrative and not restrictive. Y Y f One practicalembodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawing follows:

elevational sectional The reference numeral 1 indicates a usualpositiveunit-or electrode of a battery cell, and 2 indicates eachof a pluralityof usual depending parallel thin rectangular plates. The referencenumeral 3 indicates a usual negative electrode or unit of the same cellhaving usual depending plates 4. Numeral 5 indicates the bottom of thebattery box andv a vertical partition between the cells of the battery.Numeral 7 indicates the usual porous grid separators which are mostoften constructed of wood, and 8 my rubber separators in thedispositionl and conguration of which rests the invention.

The porous grid separators 7l are provided with integral ribs '7a whichare preferably formed on one side of the separators 7 and preferablycontact with the separators 8.

Said separators 8 are constructed preferably of a comparatively hardrubber inert composition of non-conductive nature, and in cross-sectionare substantially U-shaped. Eachgseparator 8 is formed of a thin sheetof a size suiiicient that when folded, as shown at 9, the separator willcompletely cover both sides and the lower edge of the plates 2 or 4.Each of said separators 8 is provided upon yeach of'its sides with aplurality of vertical spaced slots 1G, the vertical webs 11 therebetweenbeing adapted -to contact the vertical ribs of said plates 2 or 4. Saidwebs 11 are provided with connecting horizontal webs 12 to insure theirproper spacing at all times. Said webs 12 may be placed between eachadjacent pair of webs 1l, as shown in Fig. 1 or may be placed betweeneach alternating pair of said webs 11, as `shown in Fig. 2. The ribs 'laon the separators 7 are alined with the vertical webs 11 of theseparators 8. This construction, in which therwebs 11, the ribs 7a andthe vertical ribs of the plates 2 register with each other, insures thatthe webs l1 and the ribs 7a will affect the operationr of the batterytothe slightest possible extent. It will be noted that the thin web-likeportions of the separators 7 register with the openings in theseparators 8 and therefore are alined with the active portions of theplates 2. This construction has been found exceedingly advantageous inpractice.

It may be noted from Fig. 1 of the drawing that said separators 8Lfextend somewhat above the upper edges of the plates 4, and thatsaidslots 10 terminate at their upper ends slightlyvabove the upper edges ofthe plates 4. This is done for the purpose of preventing the formationofgas pockets between the plates and the separators.

As a means for preventing contact of the lower edges of said plates 2 or4 with any accumulation in the bottoni of the battery box, said bentportion 9 of each of said separators is made solid. In other words saidslots 1'0 terminate'at their lower ends some little distance above thepoint at which separators Bare bent back upon themselves'. It may beseen that this arrangement eiectually encloses the bottom edges of theplates, .but it may also be seen that in order to completely protect thelower portions of the plates, some means must be provided for enclosingthe lower portions of the side edges of the plates. This may beaccomplished by the provision, at each edge of the lower portion of eachof said separators 8, of an outstanding ap 13 which may be folded aroundthe edge of the plate. It might also be accomplished by forming the boxin such a size that its side walls would exactly t the separators andfirmly contact both side edges thereof. Another way in which the edgesoi the plates may be protected against contact with accumulated sedimentis by forming the separators in a width slightly greater than the widthof the plates, and then drawing the edge portions of the separatorstogether and fusing them together around the edges of the plates.

Obviously, the invention is susceptible of embodiment in forms otherthan that which is illustrated in the accompanying drawing and describedherein, and applicable for uses and purposes other than as detailed, andI therefore consider as my own all such modications and adaptions andother uses of the form of the deyvice hereinA described as fairly fallWithin the scope of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what is claimed and desired to besecured by Letter Patents, is:

In a storage battery, in combination, anl electrode having spacedvertically disposed reenforcing ribs, a separator formed of insulatingmaterial and comprising two integral slotted sheetlike portions joinedto each other by an integral imperforate U-shaped portion in which thelower edge of the electrode is nested, the slotted sheetlike portionsbeing substantially co-extensive with the electrode and said slotsextending vertically in each of said sheet-like portions, the verticallyextending portions of the yseparator between said slots registering withthe vertically extending ribs in said electrode,l and porous separatorsof wood disposed against the outer sides of said sheet-like portions andprovided with ribs registering with the vertically extending portionsbetween said slots of the rst mentioned separator and also registeringwith the vertically extending ribs in said electrode. l

HARRY H. HENRY.

